Consumers to pay higher tariff for uninterrupted power, says OERC

Orissa, which pioneered the power sector reforms in the country and was a power surplus state till recently, has turned into a power deficit state, a status which is likely to continue for a longtime.

Since price of power in the power exchanges vary between Rs 8 to Rs 11 per unit, the consumers in the state must be prepared to pay higher tariff, warned B K Das, chairman, Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).

Otherwise, uninterrupted supply of power can’t be ensured to the consumers, he observed.

Addressing the participants of the ‘Captive Power Series 2009’ here, Das said, since the power situation was very comfortable, the state didn’t give much emphasis on additional power generation.

Though the state government has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 21 companies for setting up of thermal power plants in the state, due to some problems the projects couldn’t make significant headway.

He said, the per capita energy consumption in Orissa at present is about 440 units which is projected to increase to 571 units by the end of 11th five year plan. This will be way below the projected per head energy consumption of 1000 unit for the country estimated by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

Stating that the Captive Generating Plants (CGPs) can meet a part of the increased demand for power, he said, it is natural that they will seek some support from the government. However, the CGPs should use their idle or standby capacity to step up their power output.